A pathway to positive thinking and a better life

Menu

Tag Archive | renew self

I have not been here for over a year. I had great intentions last year to go on a personal journey to enrich and enlighten my life. I wanted to have a place to go where I could escape the day-to-day and work on my spiritual side to allow the day-to-day to become happier and lighter and remove the stresses of the day-to-day. Well…the day-to-day got the best of me. “Life Happens” as they say. It was a busy year full of some scares, stresses but also a lot of joy! I would not trade it – our joys filled us with love and appreciation. Then, it was back to day-to day and a bit of fear on my end of pursuing my dreams.

Day-to Day is getting in my way. The mundane becomes a way of life and a hamster wheel. Change is harder to do as the hamster wheel does not allow me to get off and try. Fear of the unknown and change keeps me on the wheel. Knowing what I have and the “sure” thing stops me from the “new ” things. My fear is holding me back and the security of things I once felt were part of my fear of moving forward are beginning to waive. I had stability in a job that made me afraid to walk away to pursue another career. I was told to start small and then walk away-this makes sense to me , however day-to-day comes back to haunt me every time. I get caught up in the mundane, put my dreams on the back burner, thoughts that someday I can pursue them. When does that day come when am I going to be forced to give it a try to start small and grow. Today is the day!

My plan to turn the day-to-day into a spectacular day-after-day is to start my “new” path one day at a time. I always say “I need to …” but today is the day for me to say “I will…” I will blog my thoughts to encourage me to move forward. I will carve out a small portion of the day that is dedicated to me and me alone! I will set forth my plan and my goals and with the help of my family and friends I will become what I dream of. My day-to-day will no longer be mundane, but it will become a day-to-day of joy and fulfillment!

Affirmations are everywhere! They are in books, calendars, coffee mugs, magazines, billboards, the internet. Some of them are funny and make us laugh and others are a bit more serious and make us think.

My grandmother was the secretary of her bowling league and she would type up the weekly score sheet and always put a quote or affirmation on the bottom of the page. She would receive books as gifts that were full of these and she especially enjoyed Erma Bombeck ( a humorist journalist and author of suburban life). When we would play in my grandparents basement, we would always read my grandmothers sheet to see what quote she put on it. Those were good memories and now that I am an adult these quotes would make more sense to me :))

I find many of these an observation of life that makes you have an “aha” moment. Many of these are just what we need to set us down a better path, or they may be just what we need when we are feeling down and sometimes they are just funny and make us smile.

I have decided that I would like to start out my day with an affirmation or quote. It will be fun to look them up online and find ones that fit my needs that day. I may want a good laugh ( I will probably start with Erma Bombeck in memory of my grandmother) or something to help me live positive ( I am reading Florence Scovel Shinn and she has many affirmations in her book ) or I may just google a random one online as a surprise. The whole point of the affirmation for myself is to give me a focus for my day and improve my outlook on life in a positive way.

I think it is important when you read the affirmation, that you really believe it to be true and try to apply it to your life. You must have faith that these words will make an impact on your life. If you come across one that really resonates with you, then say it every day until you feel that it has changed your life or that you have achieved what you wanted it to mean for you. It is exciting to think of all the choices you have – happiness, start your day, money, success, faith, hope, employment, relationships. The opportunities are endless. Just google whatever you are looking for and start reading!

My affirmation for today – “I am grateful for all the good things in my life and am open to receiving all the opportunities that are waiting for me.”

On my journey of the “new me”, I would like to address the hustle and bustle and not slowing down and really living life. We get so busy having to go here, do this, clean this, fix this, etc, that we don’t stop and look around and see the beauty around us. I for one feel like I am on a hamster wheel with no way off and I need to change this. People will say “Live each day as if it is your last.” – this does make sense as we would really make each day great.

I was watching my grandson this weekend and I must say that I really thought a lot about what I am missing out on. He is almost 14 months old and he has always been very observant but I have noticed lately that when he is looking around that he is really taking it all in. He looks at things in awe and bright-eyed. It appears he looks at every single detail. When you talk to him, he looks right at you and smiles. We can learn a lot from children. Their excitement over the smallest things and how easily they are to please.

As adults, we lose that feeling of wonderment and rush to get things done. As adults, we feel pressures and stresses and sometimes miss out on fun. It would be great to take 5 minutes a day to really look around and notice the beauty of the sky, the flowers, buildings, people, animals or whatever there is and appreciate the things we have.

Watching my grandson develop and learn new things has been a joy for me and an eye opener as well. He gets so excited when he does new things and laughs and is so proud of himself. He looks to see that you are in fact watching his new feats and smiles at you when he sees you are indeed paying attention to him.

Watching life through the eyes of a child has really put things into perspective for this journey of mine. Now is the time to slow down and appreciate life. I will begin to see things as if it was the first time, try new things and laugh. It is time to bring out the child in me and have some fun! Thank you to my beautiful grandson for reminding me of the joys of life.

This seems like a crazy concept at first: Ask for something and you will receive it? Seems like there should be a “catch”. I have read several things about asking for what you want and believing in it and you will receive these things.

At first, it seems selfish to me to just ask for something and have it land in your lap. I was not brought up this way as you work for things you want. The more I read on this topic it begins to make a lot of sense to me and now is the time for me to apply these “rules” to the new me.

From what I have read, surrounding yourself with positive energy and asking for things specifically, that you are opening yourself up to receiving the things you are asking for. Seems unbelievable, but not believing is sending negative messages to the universe and blocking good things coming your way. I will commit myself to asking the universe for things that I want in my life and turning any negative energy that I have into positive energy.

Four things that I will do to help me achieve this are : The Prayer of Jabez daily, I will read The Wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn and apply to my life, meditate and apply daily affirmations.

These past few days have been about setting up a plan of action for the new me! I also have purchased a beautiful journal for writing down my affirmations and the things that I am asking the universe for as well as my meditation thoughts. I can not wait to read this at the end of the year to see how much that I have grown. It is very exciting to begin the new year on this journey.

This blog is great for me to share my thoughts and plans with people and putting it out to the universe. This also helps to keep me accountable for my journey. I am also hoping to be able to help guide others to a new perspective on life. Check out the books – they make for great reading :)) Both are very inspirational and explain how to ask for things and believing that you deserve goodness in your life. I actually had prayed the Prayer of Jabez in the past and good things did come my way. So the only “catch” is not believing that you are worthy of receiving good things and blocking yourself with negativity. As they say “Turn that frown upside down!” Florence Scovel Shinn (1871-1940) was an artist, author, and spiritual teacher whose philosophy was based on power of positive thought and verbal/physical affirmation. The above book includes 4 of her books in one.

Today I am going to set out my plan to mentally clear out my head. I have so many thoughts going through my head ( worry about the kids, worry of financial security, worry if bills are paid, worry of expense of redecorating home, losing weight, and so on and so on).

Here is where the Prayer of Serenity comes into play. I am sure many are familiar with this prayer or has heard it at one time or another. I feel like it is so simple but yet so true and really an easy way to live. So many things are beyond are control and clutter our minds and stress us out that we do need to let the things we can’t change go. If we can’t change them, then why stress about it? Once again, an easier said than done thing, I need to concentrate and put my energy into things that I can change and that will make a difference in my life. In case you are not familiar to the prayer, here it is:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference.

I feel that if I can say this every morning and put these words into actions, the things that stress me out and that I have no control over will be removed; and I can concentrate on the things I can change. Exercise is my second defense of stress relief. I feel so good when I exercise and it clears my mind. Meditation is also a form of stress relief. As you can see, my new commitment continues to reinforce my goals of this new stress free life. Serenity and peace sounds fantastic! Join me on this assignment and see where it takes you!

I decided to start a blog this year to renew myself. To make myself stronger and less stressed. I am definitely a Type A personality. I let things bother me and stress me out to the point that I can’t sleep, gain weight, and just feel worn out and sad. I really need to find a balance in my life to not allow stress to take over. Easier said than done!!

I do know that when I eat healthy( less sugar and bread – more veggies and protein) and exercise daily I feel much better and am happier and less stressed. Meditation is also very helpful for me. The problem is, that I feel I don’t have the “me” time to do these simple things for myself. 2015 will be different! I will schedule in my exercise and meditation daily and I will eat better. I will allow myself to balance my body and mind and do the things I am meant to do.

Did I mention that I was a Medium? I really need to focus on this as my main job goal this year as I feel I can help many people. I have done so in the past and absolutely love being able to share my “gift”. In order to really help people who are in need of receiving messages from their loved ones that have passed away, I need to spend a few weeks rebalancing myself in body and mind. This will remove the “clutter” in my head and the passed souls can bring me their messages clearly.

By doing this blog, I am renewing myself spiritually and moving forward doing something that I really enjoy doing and that is helping others. Welcome to my journey!!